Study: 13% of Israeli childen suffer from disabilities, chronic illnesses

I wonder if the Israelis actually love their children enough to teach them to hate the "Palestinians" by teaching them how to attack their farms and telling them how they are sub-human and they don't really exist as a people

Sir, my son is socially impaired (yet brilliant in school) and suffers similar behaviour as your son's illness. Call me collect if you wish. I have a 21 year old Jewish son who wishes to date a girl. No one wants to date him as he is "unwell". Is there a dating service, a social meeting for kids with permanent disabilities like our children?. My phone number is (760) 342 3276

How can a socially impaired boy, at 21 get a date, have a chance at love, kissing, communicating? My son is socially impaired. Is there a JDATE for kids with disabilities? Call (760)342 3276 if you wish to talk

hi michael, i immigrated from switzerland to the carmel a few months ago, and let's be honest, the carmel is just too steep to cylce, with or without pollution. just get a mountainbike and ride down the carmel park - ironcially called "little switzerland". the bike paths there are at least as good as in switzerland!!!!!!

Actually I'm not anti-Semite. I do genuinely fear that those who close their eyes to the injustices and acts of oppression in the Land are destroying themselves, really anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli. Do you not think such attitudes corrupt those who hold them? I am very very glad that the answer to my question "What percentage . . . " is not100%

A lot of this is created by restrictive psychology. Sectarianism, terrorism and other isms are not the types of mental patterns which are conducive to natural brain function.

I know for a fact that Israeli pregnant women have - often dangerous - tests done to check if the child is disabled like having Down Syndrom. If so, the child is aborted, it sounds ugly but it is a fact. Why do we not see so many Down Syndrom people in Israel? Are they hidden?? No they are aborted on a large scale. Jews do not have less chance to give birth to them. So how many more would be born if it wasn't for the abortions? I do not wish any parent to get a disabled child but am against breaking off pregnancies at the rate it is done in Israel, just because the child is not perfect. Down Syndrom children/adults are such loving people, who can be moody at times, but such angles otherwise. But in Israel they are not welcome. I know this from many Israeli sources.

I have two nieces in Israel who are teachers at primary schools with 42 kids in one class room out of which approx. 6 with ADHD. When school starts, the teachers can already tell if their mothers forgot to give them their medicines and they have to send them to the school nurse to get a dose. It is so sad for all the children, also the ones who are "normal", their lessons are chaotic at times and they cannot concentrate while their fellow pupils are playing hell in class. Also it is sad that only the well-to-do-parents can support their children by means of special programs. Should the government not make this available to all children with disabilities? I sure think so.

I have many relatives and friends in Israel with children who are over-active, some even diagnosed with ADHD. The main cause could be the food colourings and sugar in Israeli foods and sweets. Studies in EU showed that food colour and sugar increase the chance of ADHD symptoms. I have seen cakes at Israeli kids birthday parties full of colour icing (imported from the USA actually). My - Dutch - children found the cakes too sweet and even disgusting, but the Israelis just loved it. And then the party became chaotic with a bunch of wild kids acting like mad monkeys. Over the past 20 years I noticed Israeli children drink too much Cola and other sweet sodas. Even liquid medicines, like antibiotics is so pink and sweet, it is no wonder that children there suffer from behaving disorders. Cut down on colourings and sugar and watch them change for the better.

In the USA there is a theory that the vaccination against measles caused an allergic reaction which led to autistic developmental disorders in little children. This was never proved scientifically, though.

Hi Tanya I liked your comment. All the best for your son. Every child is unique and a gift of G-d. My daughter (8) has dyspraxia. Still, I think she is a lovely child. Not everybody can be a great achiever at school. Officially, in my country there are about 10% children with some sort of developmental or learning problems. But I think such figures are not accurate. Many countries do not publish such figures at all because there is no awareness of it. Children remain illiterate and nobody asks why. I think if I can help my child to make use of her abilities and see her happy and proud this is more rewarding than anything else

Go back and read history. This is not ancient history and the original sources are readily available. The Palestinians were thrown out of Jordan, because they tried to overthrow the government there. They created chaos in Lebanon. They target women and children in Israel with suicide bombers and rockets. Never has Israel deliberately tried to harm innocent people. Your anti-semitism is showing. Research the facts and then post something sensible.

Simon, the reasons were entirely personal - my wife is Israeli and has a large family here. But let me assure you: I am not afraid of extermination, nor am I here for religious reasons. In fact I think that the main threat to Israel is that all public discussion and politics are focussed entirely on these topics: security and religion, and a far too small amount of thinking goes into social welfare and ecology, both of which are highly important in the long term. A country's psychological and physical base can erode if such little attention is paid to its "inner health". And focussing exclusively on security issues is almost always a sign of weak politics. This goes deep of course, it's ultimately a matter of public awareness, education etc. and in Israel the whole population is preoccupied with security, probably in part because of the army brain-wash. To think of it: many more people suffer here because of bad health and poverty than because of Qassams and Katyuashas.

There is no law against intermarriage in Israel. In the Jewish population genetic related disablities would be on par with any western country. Jewish population are made up of people from over 100 countries so there is a large gene pool. On the other hand Israeli Arabs who tend to marry within families, (cousins) have a high rate of genetic disablities. This is slowly changing as Arab communities are being educated and advised against close family marriage.

This is the most idiotic statement I've ever heard! My son is 7 years old, he has PDD NOS which is within the autistic spectrum. Do you think that this is somehow related to the Arab-Israeli conflict? Are you nuts or just plain stupid??? Do you know that out of a thousand newborn kids every fifth has some kind of a problem, developmental or otherwise? (statistics given by our doctor). Obviously not. We consider ourselves lucky because he is a beautiful boy, the most pleasant human being to be with, he is "high functioning" as they say. And in Israel you get assistance in every possible way. They don't leave parents of such kids alone - special schools, special classes in "regular" schools, financial assistance and so on. To try and turn this into a political issue is insensitive and just plain dumb. I hope your kids are healthy and you don't have to worry about their future. Autistic kids have different problems. Will they be able to work, drive, live well after parents die...

Dear JW, Ziad, Guss, Maureen and Deborah, Every developed country attempts to diagnose and provide help to the children with special needs. Because of the advances in diagnostics, the percentage appears to be higher than in the underdeveloped world. For example, in the United States, about 13 percent of children have special health care needs. See https://www.seattlechildrens.org/child_health_safety/special_needs/#whoare Before you jump onto the ha’aretz site and shower Israelis with you condescension and/or venom, you should educate yourself and attempt to diagnose yourself. Who knows, it might be your ADHD, M-SHGas or some other medical condition that makes you so irate at the Israelis. Best of luck in meeting your special needs.

The statistics are alarming and it must be addressed in whatever way possible otherwise it is going to get worse with each generation. It's so sad when children suffer.

disabilities? How worried are Israelis of such a problem arising in the future given the law against intermarriage? A limited gene pool obviously exposes children to the greater chance of inherited illness.

Michael, I felt moved by your post! Why, oh, why did you leave Switzerland? I don't expect you to answer, especially not in public. But I still needed somehow to ask you in public, why you left Switzerland! You are convinced that using your bicycle in Israel will destroy your health! You don't know whether or not to take your newborn son for a walk each day, because the ozone and pollution levels are not published in the land you have emigrated to. And over and above the health of your child, yourself and your family, there is the existential fear of annihilation, even of extermination. If this never occurs in the lifetime of your newborn son, the fear will always be there like a pollution of the soul. Have you come across Israel Today at www.israeltoday.co.il? There are some interesting debates going on such as: Why Did God Choose Israel? The Mystery of the Olive Tree The New Jerusalem Replacement Theology is Wrong Worth looking at even if you're secular!

Whenever there are attrocities there are conciquences.

The reason that I know about autism is that my son, who is now thirty-seven years of age, was incorrectly diagnosed as being autistic. My son has an even worse condition, he has been diagnosed with Lebers Congenital Amaurosis. He is legally blind, and some blind people have similar charactistics to autism (rocking the body as if he were praying as an Orthodox Jew.) My wife and I visited Keren Or in Jerusalem, and when the receptionist inquired as to the reason that we came there, she told us that our son was welcome to utilize their facilities. I can still remember my reply to her: With all of Israel's problems, you are willing to take on our problem? That is what makes Israel a wonderful, caring country. I wish all of the best for your son.

It seems that three of them reached the stage of Prime minister, military commander, and other top official position

Yes Mr Weintraub we have autism here,all stages of it,my son has Asperger's syndrom which is a mild form of Autism dealing with socialization issues with kids his own age. We have a few special education programs in this country for Autistic children, but nothing like you have in the USA. If you read today's New York Times, www.Nytimes.com ,they have a survey as to exactly the amount of children suffering from Autism in the USA. We did not know what Autism was years ago, many of the children were thought to be retarded, it is only recently that we learned about Autism and that it doesn't have anything to do with retardism. I don't know the Stats are for the number of Autistic children in Israel, but I know that it is alot because I had a hard time getting my son into a program for Asperger's children in my area as there aren't many specialized schools in the North of the country.

I am curious if there are many cases of autism in Israeli children (children who are unable to talk and have abnormal and severe behavioral problems.) I never heard of autism in Texas when I was growing up some fifty years ago, and nowadays I know a number of people with autistic children and grandchildren. I am curious also that if there are cases of autistic children in Isreal, if the source or cause of it has been determined.

I completely agree with #2. I immigrated from Switzerland a year ago and live in what counts for a relatively "unpolluted" neighborhood on the Carmel. But compared to Swiss cities the smell of exhausts is enormous, I won't use the bicycle because I'm convinced it will not further my health but destroy it, and I doubt I should take my newborn son out for a walk - without first driving out of the city for half an hour, thus increasing the problem. It is well known that f.i. Ozone is bad especially for childrens' respiratory system - in Switzerland the levels are published each day in the newspaper and a warning is issued if the levels are too high, not to take your child for a walk in the city. If they stay high, traffic may be restricted.

I am tired of people holding Israel to a higher standard than any other country. Yes we're screwed up. But the last I checked the world wasn't any better. We should be commended for attempting to keep our humanity in a time of war and brutal terror. Sometimes we fail. But we try, unlike some societies.

How many of the disabilities can be attributed to the environment in which we live? High levels of air pollution in our cities, water being contaminated by industrial pollutantion,radiation from high voltage lines and cellphone towers. How much is caused by the constant stress and tension we and our kids live under, the threat of terrorism, impending war, the poor economyin which many businesses go under creating higher unemployment? All of these are factors in causing mental health and physical problems too. We must act now to curtail pollution, terror,unemployment to save ourselves, our children and our children's children!

suffer from tunnel vision in matters of justice, peace, human rights, and indeed of common humanity?